IIM Visakhapatnam CAT Cutoff and Eligibility

For the CAT 2025-based PGP 2026-28 intake, the first-screen thresholds were:

Candidates needed a positive raw score in all three sections and had to select IIM Visakhapatnam in the CAT registration preferences. Clearing the table meant eligibility for the detailed institute application, not a guaranteed PI or admission offer.

The qualifying routes were:

NC-OBC and EWS applicants did not receive the SC/ST/PwD 45% qualification relaxation. A completed professional qualification was a separate route; a bachelor's degree was not compulsory for every eligible applicant.

This page concerns the regular PGP. PGPMCI and Executive MBA have different eligibility and selection processes. The CAT cutoff guide distinguishes first-stage eligibility floors from final merit cutoffs.

Application, Interview Consent and Shared PI Scores

The first shortlist used CAT performance. Invited candidates then submitted IIMV's detailed online form and supporting documents. Academic and work fields could be corrected where required, but category could not be changed. Only applications completed by the deadline moved forward.

Phase 2 used the profile-based pre-PI score. Candidates also had to submit the interview-consent form by its deadline. A qualifying percentile or an earlier completed application did not replace this consent step.

For PGP 2026-28, IIMV used PI scores from candidates shortlisted by the relevant PGP/PGPM programmes at IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow and IIM Indore. Such candidates did not need a separate IIMV PI; the average of the PI scores supplied by those institutes was used.

A candidate had to attend PI at at least one of the applicable institutes. Being shortlisted but attending none led to an absent status for IIMV and no further evaluation. A call for a different programme should not automatically be treated as the specified PGP/PGPM exemption.

Candidates not shortlisted by any of those four relevant programmes attended IIMV's own PI. The shared interview arrangement did not share final merit lists: Visakhapatnam applied its own selection weights.

Pre-PI and Final Selection Weights

The same profile had different weights before and after interview:

Within the pre-PI CAT component of fifty, VARC contributed eighteen, DILR fourteen and QA eighteen. In final selection, PI became the largest component at forty-eight and CAT carried twenty-five.

School percentages were divided by the 90th-percentile score for the respective board, using Class 10 and Class 12 data from CAT applicants over the preceding two years. Graduation scores were adjusted within their academic streams. Equal raw percentages therefore did not necessarily produce equal standardised scores.

The standardisation formula was: max(0, min(wt, wt/2 + ((val - mean) / sd) x wt/6)). Here, wt is the component weight, val is the candidate's value, and mean and sd describe the relevant reference group. The score is limited to zero through the component weight.

At the reference-group mean, this expression gives half the component weight. But without the institute's actual mean, standard deviation and board/stream adjustments, an applicant cannot reproduce the official composite from personal marks alone.

For school or bachelor's scores missing because of COVID, the affected component received no weight and the remaining weights were redistributed proportionately. An ordinary missing document was not the same as this specific COVID-related exception.

Final offers followed category-wise rank on the final aggregate. The institute could reject a profile if submitted information did not match the actual records.

Work Experience and Professional Qualifications

Work duration was measured up to 31 December 2025 for this intake. With x representing months of eligible experience, the score was:

Examples from the formula:

The important boundary is twelve months: below twelve the score was zero, while twelve months gave 2.5. The maximum was reached at twenty-four months and retained through thirty-six. This replaced the assumption that any experience below a year automatically earned proportionate points.

Completed CA, ICWA/CMA, CS and FIAI were listed for professional-course consideration. The detailed scoring text describes normalising completed final-level professional marks. If the candidate also had work experience, the higher of work and professional-course scores was used under the common component, not their sum.

Only paid, full-time work after completion of the bachelor's degree qualified as work experience. Applicants with more than one bachelor's degree had to identify the primary degree; work could not start before that degree's completion.

Part-time work, projects, internships, training, apprenticeships, articleship, pre-graduation work and experience forming part of the qualifying course were excluded. Unpaid and cash-paid employment also did not count. A professional qualification could establish admission eligibility without automatically making every earlier job eligible for work points.

Application and Work-Experience Documents

The application required these records:

• Class 10, Class 12 and bachelor's transcripts
• Bachelor's degree or provisional certificate, as applicable
• Bonafide certificate for final-year graduation candidates
• Professional qualification transcripts and certificate, where applicable
• Work letters and first/last payslips, supported by the detailed requirements below
• Applicable SC/ST/NC-OBC/EWS certificate in the CAT 2025 format
• Disability certificate and UDID card for PwD applicants

Joining/appointment and relieving letters had to be on company letterhead, with an authorised seal and signature. For previous employers, the policy requested the documents to be combined into one file. The detailed requirement was the first two and last two payslips, not just one payslip from each end.

The admissions office could request further statutory proof: EPF statements or UAN details, applicable ESI contributions, Form 16, income-tax statements showing employer salary, or other employment records.

A bank credit alone did not satisfy every work condition. Unorganised-sector proof had to cover the entire employment period and show salary from the employer's account; business claims also needed the relevant tax and registration records.

The professional, category and disability documents supported separate claims. For PwD applicants, the document list included both the disability certificate and UDID card.

Offer Withdrawal and Refund Conditions

The PGP 2026-28 refund policy used the offer deadline, registration and the start of classes as separate boundaries:

Before registration but after the offer-letter deadline, the relevant count was candidates who had accepted offers. If that count was less than or equal to planned intake, refund requests were not entertained. After registration, the policy instead compared registered students with planned intake.

Eligible conditional refunds were processed first-come, first-served. The request had to reach the admissions office in time; sending it late did not preserve the earlier refund rule.

Once Term 1 classes started, refund requests were not considered under this policy. The CAT admission process includes separate institute offer and withdrawal conditions, so an acceptance deadline from another IIM does not establish IIMV's refund window.

1. First-Screen and Qualification Reference
2. Application and PI Route
3. Shortlist and Final-Score Reference

1. Work and Professional-Score Reference
2. Document Reference
3. Refund Reference